Jewelry Workshops

Our dear friend, Francesca, gave me the sweetest gift for Christmas. She told me I could take one of her classes for free. (She has a great art studio/gallery--Roadhouse Arts--that is awesome!) In the end, she let me take Beginning Soldering and the following Next Steps Soldering class. I never thought I'd be one to enjoy jewelry making, but I had the best time! 

Jewelry I made in my beginning soldering class

Francesca said my "earrings needed a selfie". Ha! Well, here it is.

The ring I did on day two!

Making earring wires. Isn't the flame pretty?

Finished product!

The ring turned out a little (a lot) bigger than I typically wear, but my inner big haired preacher's wife loves it!

Wedding Weekend

We'd been looking forward to April 4th for a while. Not only were our good friends Brandon & Brittany getting married (she was one of our former youth), but some of our very best friends, the Phelps' were coming in to town--all of them--for the first time since they moved five years ago! The wedding was so fun, and we were honored to be involved. I did the photography and Aaron officiated. It was fun celebrating with old friends and we all had a great time!

Lauren and Terra at the wedding

Terra and Brittany

Aaron officiates the ceremony

Brittany & Brandon

The wedding was Friday night, and we spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with the Phelps and the other Powers crew.

The boys reunited

"Bobby and Lala" together again!

The girls and I went upstairs for a while to pull up a few old pictures for a good laugh. They ended up helping me put together a slideshow of a bunch of old pictures to play for everyone downstairs.  We had a really good laugh at all the funny pictures and happy memories!

And, of course, we had to take a few minutes for a family portrait session. (It was a little easier now that everyone's bigger!)

Big League Weekend

As you may know, we're a baseball family. More specifically, we're an Astros family, so when Aaron heard about Big League Weekend here in our very own San Antonio, he was ordering tickets. Last weekend, we drove downtown to the Alamodome where we met Ammie, Poppy, Jason, and Jackson to watch the Astros play the Rangers. We all had a great time, AND the Astros won! 

Caddo Lake [Spring Break 2014]

This year for Spring Break, we headed to East Texas for five days at Caddo Lake. It's become a family favorite. We love it there! This year we stayed in Barnstormer on Taylor Island (my favorite area to stay) and we had a lovely time! We spent a lot of time fishing, eating, canoeing, and just unplugging from our sometimes crazy life.

Game night after the kids went to bed

Exploring at Caddo Lake

Aaron, Abby, and Mattie

Dustin, Andre, Jerah, and Valerie

I love being on the water, so I went out in the canoes several times. Our last full day there, it was gorgeous, so we decided that we'd try to go all together (except for Granddaddy and Benjamin) in a few different canoes. Abby was not a fan, but we convinced her to go. Well, the trip was going wonderfully and everyone was having fun, when a motorboat sped by and the waves tipped the canoe carrying Aaron, Abby, and Mattie. The rest of us rushed over to try and help them because the water was deep and very cold and Abby was completely freaking out. We managed to get everyone out and to save the canoe, but I'm pretty sure Abby will never get into a canoe again!

They got soaked when the canoe tipped over, but they survived!

Jerah & Carson chillin' on the back porch

Mattie & Grandaddy with all the grandkids

A Week in the Life [Day 7: Saturday]

Saturday morning, though the kids woke up early, I took my time waking up and getting out of bed. Aaron was kind enough to bring my coffee to me in bed so I didn't have to get up. The camper was so cozy warm, I just sat and enjoyed it for a while.

After breakfast, everyone decided we should go back to the pier for more fishing.

I'm so glad that the kids are big enough to handle their own bait and tackle!

We went back and packed up the camper and enjoyed a few more minutes of play before we headed back home.

On the way home, we stopped for lunch at Bluebonnet Cafe (where they are famous for their pies).

Lunch was absolutely delicious. And how can it not be when you're eating good ol' southern comfort food like pot roast and chicken fried steak? So good.

We finally made it home early afternoon, and we got everything unpacked and unloaded. (Which--moment of confession--is good for us! Sometimes we just let most of it sit for a couple of days because we're too tired to unpack. It makes me think of the Baggage episode from Everybody Loves Raymond.) The kids went and played while Aaron and I worked on finishing some things to be ready for church tomorrow. 

After a while, Aaron was having trouble breathing (he'd been struggling a little for the past couple days but hadn't said much), and we decided he should go to the doctor to get checked out. He left and the kids and I went to drop off some pictures to a client and friend of mine. As we were leaving Laura's house, Aaron called and said it looks like he has a kind of asthma and it was good that he went. The doctor had to give him a shot, a nebulizer treatment, and then gave him an inhaler to keep with him.

At this point it was getting too late to cook anything, so the kids and I stopped and picked up burgers and fries at Steak & Shake and we all ate dinner while we watched America's Funniest Home Videos together. We were all sunburned (Oops! It didn't feel that hot at the lake.) and a bit worn out, so it was a nice way to end the weekend.

A Week in the Life [Day 6: Friday]

Friday morning dawned and it was a beautiful day. It was a little cold at first, but it ended up being a perfect day. This was my morning view from our campsite.

Aaron built another fire and we tossed our breakfast tacos on it to warm up. I've gotta say, they were pretty good!

After breakfast, we decided it was time to get out and do some stuff!

We first went on a hike to Devil's Waterhole. It was really pretty and we all had a lot of fun. I love that both of our kids have an appreciation for beauty. Carson kept rounding corners, "Guys, you have to come see this!" They love to explore.

The rock formations at the park are so cool and interesting. I would love to know more about it. Very unique. God is so creative.

A while later, we drove down to Longhorn Cavern State Park. It turned out to be more than we wanted to pay to go into the cavern, but they had a lookout tower that was really cool and had a pretty spectacular view.

View from the tower. The white to the right was a castle-like building.

We came back and ate our giant sandwich, and then it was on to fishing. The kids couldn't wait to fish. We went down to the pier, where the kids immediately set to baiting their hooks and casting their lines. I parked myself in a chair with a book, even though I do love fishing. I'm was/am reading Graceling, and I wanted to know what happened next.

No one was getting any bites for the longest time, and then I heard Aaron holler, "I got one! I got one! Come here!" I ran over to see him pull out a HUGE fish. It was the biggest fish I'd ever seen someone catch in person. It was so heavy, that when he was trying to pull it over the edge of the pier, it's lip gave way and it fell back into the water. OH NO! It was so sad. From what we can tell it was a channel cat, and it was nearly the length of Aaron's whole arm. Probably somewhere around 15 pounds. It was impressive. We at least got this picture, but it's so hard to get perspective because it was still down below the edge of the pier and there's not really anything to compare it to. It was big though, and here is all the proof we have. :)

After that, everyone kept fishing for a good long while, but there wasn't so much as a nibble. Still fun though. We went back to the campsite to get our bikes and went for a ride. We set out to find a good trail, but we ended up at the Park Store renting a canoe. Sadly, I did not bring my camera for this. We canoed from the store over to Devil's Waterhole again to see it from a different perspective. Abby was totally freaked out by the canoe at first and was in tears because Carson kept looking over the side and she felt like we were going to tip over. But after a while, we all settled in and enjoyed it immensely. (Though at the end, it was very windy and the paddling was hard work!)

We went back to the campsite after that, and while Abby and Aaron went to go get firewood and ice and such, Carson decided he would go swimming in the water by our campsite. That water was cold, but that didn't stop him. Abby joined him when she got back and they had a blast.

Aaron took a nap in the hammock.

Once swimming got old, the kids decided they wanted to go fishing again, and I just sat and waited for sunset so I could take pictures.

The boys played a little catch. I started getting dinner ready again. Oh wait, no. Aaron took care of dinner. Love that man.

We all had such a great day. Carson kept saying over and over again, "This is the best day ever!"